


Second Best

by toska_sobachja



Series: Korekio/reader works [2]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Bondage, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Smut, F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Reader-Insert, Rivalry, Rope Bondage, Smut, Verbal Humiliation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:00:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27661040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toska_sobachja/pseuds/toska_sobachja
Summary: You’re a university student, first year, studying cultural anthropology. Your new life seems great. But then it turns out you’ll be sharing a classroom with the Ultimate Anthropologist Shinguji Korekiyo himself, who enjoys speaking non-stop about his field experience and ‘vast knowledge’ of different cultures. His self-confidence just drives you mad! Especially since you are also top of the class, just not bragging about it…A rivals to lovers story where Korekiyo and you gradually find that you two have more in common than it seems at first glance. At least you both can’t accept being second best in anything.
Relationships: Shinguji Korekiyo/Reader
Series: Korekio/reader works [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2022605
Comments: 12
Kudos: 62





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted this to be similar to Stalking Beauty in writing, but with a completely different plot and a completely different personality for Korekiyo. The tags might look grim but I promise it’s a wholesome stoly lol
> 
> Thanks to MasonMyah for commissioning me to write this!

Starting at a university is always a little scary. Especially if you're a quiet and private person, who prefers to keep to themselves most of the time. You didn’t make many friends during your highschool days and it takes you more and more effort the older you get... Well. No matter. You came to university to study, not to mingle. Right?

But it is still so hard to master some courage to just talk to someone, to ask them casually about homework or if they want to have lunch together. The only thing that helps you build up some confidence is school work. You were always proud of your studies: top of the class, a real hard-worker. You know your stuff, especially when it comes to cultural anthropology. Naturally, it’s your major now.

So who cares if you don’t socialize? At least you got your books and your lectures. A nice and safe way to feel like you are good at something. Like reeeeally good. Well… maybe not as good as him.

He just appeared out of nowhere during one of your cultural anthropology lectures. Came right in with a blatantly insincere but nonetheless very formal apology, which apparently wasn’t even necessary since the professor greeted him like a guest of honor, despite being three times his age.

“As I’m sure you’re all aware by now, this year we are welcoming one of the students of Hope’s Peak Academy into our university”.

That school, it could only mean… Oh no.

“This is Korekiyo Shinguji, the Ultimate Anthropologist”.

Of course you know who he is. You’ve seen that name dozens of times on all of those research papers you’ve read. Although you’ve never seen his pictures before. Eyeing him now you could never imagine he looked like this. A slim body, intimidating height, long black hair, a neat gray suit and a black paper face mask. Your professor looks tiny compared to him.

You were sitting too far to see any more details of his appearance, but it didn’t actually matter that much. You were more focused on his manner of speech, which was… so incredibly annoying!

“Please, let me give a formal apology to you, professor, and to my peers as well, for interrupting the lecture and wasting the time you could have spent absorbing invaluable knowledge”. 

Aren’t you literally wasting our time right now with this long-ass apology?

“I am dreadfully sorry for arriving late, however it was precisely my pursuit of knowledge that held me behind.”

Professor nodded:

“Indeed, Shinguji has just arrived from one of his field trips. How about we put our current topic on hold for now and listen to what he has to say about his findings. Shinguji’s contribution to cultural anthropology is immense, even though he’s only just graduated highschool. Our university is truly lucky to have him.”

Korekiyo bowed theatrically:

“The honor is mine, professor. I’m overjoyed to be in your care. As for your request, I would gladly indulge.”

Korekiyo starts his lecture. His manner of speech, his posture, his body language — everything is brimming with confidence and with love for his scholarly work. This truly is an Ultimate — a brilliant, exceptionally talented person. If not for his age you could easily mistake him for a professor: the way he spoke, his vocabulary and knowledge are all impeccable.

You can practically feel your confidence shrinking. But instead something else is growing. Frustration? Envy? Anger even? Why can’t that be you? You too could teach a class like this. (Probably). The only difference between you two is that he is an Ultimate, and you just… don’t have the status? No… Actually, you’re just not good enough. And you know it.

The other difference would be that incredible self-confidence. Something in which you have always been lacking. Korekiyo is standing there in front of a huge crowd, giving a speech like it’s nothing. With a note of self-disgust you admit that he’s also good at it. Despite his nauseating manner of speaking he manages to make his lecture worthwhile and to keep the whole class engaged. Even if you were equally knowledgeable, would you be able to speak publicly?...

You feel embarrassed that only a few minutes ago you were actually thinking you would be the smartest person in this class, the best at history and cultural anthropology. You had no idea Korekiyo Shinguji was attending the same university. Well, no wonder you didn’t know, since you were so busy studying. And he was apparently busy on his field trip, because he didn’t even arrive for the entrance ceremony and none of the classes before today.

You’re bitter and angry at yourself. You would have been way better prepared if you knew he was coming. And now you’re caught completely off guard. If you knew, you would have found him beforehand and- and… and what? Talked to him? Told him you had read all of his papers? Asked him to maybe study together sometime? So stupid and naive. You were never anywhere near his level. He’s practically a scholar already, respected by the university professors. And you? Just a nerdy no-name student with no friends.

The bell goes off.

“Thank you, Shinguji! This was positively refreshing.”

“Ku-ku-ku… No need to thank me, professor, for it is an anthropologist’s calling to educate others on those matters.”

Once the lecture is finished you are reminded once again of Korekiyo’s insufferable personality. You’ve never imagined he would turn out to be such a snob in real life. In fact seeing him now feels like a cold shower. From Korekiyo’s anthropological works he seemed like someone who studied and worked hard solely for the goal of gaining knowledge. You respected it so much. Felt some vague kinship even. But now you are completely disillusioned. A person so self-absorbed and so devout of modesty is simply disgusting. You arrive at a simple yet still very disappointing conclusion, that Korekiyo and you could never become friends.

Professor shakes Korekiyo’s hand.

“Do you have any more field trips coming along?”

“Oh, no, I’m afraid this was a rather spontaneous endeavour. From now on, however, I am planning on taking my education seriously” Korekiyo paces his words. He takes his time, knowing full well no one is going to rush him. “I will most definitely attend every one of your lectures in the future.”

“Wonderful! Now how about we finish up for today. Class dismissed.”

A second later a bunch of people are already rushing down the lecture hall to talk to Korekiyo. So embarrassing for them. You’re not going to humiliate yourself like this. Hurriedly, you walk right past the crowd, out of the lecture building and straight to your dorm.

There you are going to read and study and revise until you won’t feel embarrassed and vulnerable in front of him ever again.


	2. Chapter 2

Several months have passed since Korekiyo Shinguji walked into your classroom and sabotaged your school life and self-confidence. Those were several very difficult months. Korekiyo spoke up in nearly every class and thus you were constantly reminded of your lacking knowledge. Sometimes he would talk even more than professors and it was especially humiliating to admit you also learned a lot from him. Everytime that happened you would just rush back to the dorms and bury yourself under a pile of books.

Even more frustrating was that Korekiyo was also popular with professors and students alike. Not many people approached him, since he seemed rather intimidating: an Ultimate and practically a scholar already, who could get easily bored in a conversation if the others weren’t quite on his level (which happened a lot). But nonetheless everyone wanted to impress him, befriend him. You even heard people talk about his looks. You couldn’t tell, but apparently he was considered handsome. Whatever...

But life wasn’t all that bad. Since Korekiyo arrived at the university you read and studied cultural anthropology even harder than before. Very soon you noticed that in some cases you knew more than him. When Korekiyo was talking in class and omitted an important fact or even a small detail or simply couldn’t speak up on the subject you would triumph internally. Of course you would never say anything out loud, but inside you were screaming with joy.

You started to develop this peculiar habit of debating Korekiyo in your head. Though you’ve never spoken in real life you imagined how the two of you would argue about some historical fact and how you would totally destroy him. 

As you were constantly studying, your social life wasn’t improving whatsoever. And this weird daydreaming only made things worse, since now you were wearing this snarky grin all the time, totally lost in your own thoughts. A sight that didn’t encourage your peers to interact with you.

Who knows how far this daydreaming would have gone, if one day something truly extraordinary didn’t happen.

*******

It’s the end of the semester. The tests are almost over and you did exceptionally well on most of them. But it’s too early to feel relieved: the only test results that truly matter remain yet unannounced.

The cultural anthropology class is in session and the professor comes in carrying a pile of test sheets. You tense up.

“So, the last week of this semester has finally come,” the professor starts, placing the sheets on the desk. “Let’s start today with announcing your test results. I am going to pin down this list so you can all see the scores for yourselves.”

He puts a piece of paper on the blackboard behind him and the first group of students rushes towards it impatiently. Frankly you too can’t wait to see your score, but you’re sitting quite far from the board and besides you don’t want to seem desperate. (You are, though).

Korekiyo, of course, isn't rushing anywhere either, simply watching his peers curiously, as if the whole thing has nothing to do with him.

Then the murmur and the first glances start. People come up to the board, look through it and then their eyes dart around the room until they find you. Then a gesture and a “I think that’s her”. You swallow uncomfortably. Your legs start to shake a little. What happened? Did you score 0 or something?? Is it that bad??!!?

After several people have given you the weirdest of looks you stand up, trying to seem calm, and slowly, steadily walk towards the board.

“Congrats!” someone says and you nod, even though you have no idea what you are being congratulated on.

You come closer to the list and start looking for your name on it, but then immediately realize you don’t have to. It’s right there. On the very top. 100/100. A perfect score.

Your eyes move down.

Korekiyo Shinguji. 99/100

This is it. This is THE MOMENT. You can’t decide what sort of expression you should be making right now, but in your head you’re screaming like it’s the best thing that has ever happened to you. Wait, it probably is!

“My, my. What an unforeseen outcome.”

You hear a familiar voice over your shoulder and turn around to face Korekiyo.

This is the first time to see him upclose. Most of his face is covered by a black paper mask, but you can tell he has prominent cheekbones and a pointy chin, matching his skinny physique. His eyes are narrow and dark, with quite long black lashes. The brows are dark and thin, the left one is lifted as if inquiring wordlessly: “How did this come to pass?” You can’t quite make out what sort of expression he’s wearing because of the mask, but he probably is not exactly happy.

You feel like you need to say something. Come on now, you’ve practiced in your head for WEEKS! Now hit him with your best one-liner!

“C-congratulations.”

Noooooo! Why did you say that? And did you have to stutter too?!!

Korekiyo lifts his brow even higher and you hurry back to your seat. This could have gone better. Still the victory feels good. Even though you’ve made a fool of yourself, in the end the result remains the same: you outscored Korekiyo on a cultural anthropology test. This is BIG!

The rest of the class goes by with you daydreaming about Korekiyo making all sorts of stupid devastated faces under that mask of his. Oh sweet revenge! And when the bell rings you walk out absent-mindedly, wearing a huge happy grin, and thinking that you should maybe treat yourself to some cake since you deserve it. But those happy thoughts are interrupted once again by a familiar voice.

“May we have a moment to talk?”

It startles you a little. You turn to look at Korekiyo standing behind you.

“Sure.”

“Let us visit the library then. I wish to speak privately.”

You frown suspiciously, but nod. As the two of you walk to the library, you think of all the possible reasons he would want to talk. Is he going to have a mental breakdown about losing to you? No, seems unlikely. He is a restrained person most of the time. Will he ask you to revise the test together to discuss his mistake? Even more unlikely!

You reach the library and Korekiyo offers you to sit down at one of the desks in the far corner of the room, where no one can hear you two talk. You nod and sit down, anticipating something possibly quite exciting.

“So. Let us discuss the way you shamelessly cheated on the cultural anthropology test.”

This is definitely not what you were anticipating!

“WHAT???!!!” you shout so loudly Korekiyo’s eyes go round with astonishment.

“Are you out of your mind? Such an inhuman shriek. And in the library of all places. So unladylike,” he frowns with disgust.

You cover your mouth with your hand and then repeat in a hateful whisper:

“WHAT???!!!”

“I said let us discuss the way you shamelessly cheated on the cultural anthropology test.”

“Ugh- I heard you the first time!” you continue to whisper angrily. “The audacity! Why- You! You’re just jealous!”

“Ku-ku-ku,” he lets out a bitter sarcastic laugh. “Oh I have no interest in the bureaucratic intricacies of studying. All I care about is you defiling the subject that I love with my whole heart. To cheat on a cultural anthropology test is the most vulgar thing one could do.”

“I DIDN’T CHEAT! How did you even come to this conclusion?!” you wheeze with hatred.

“Simple. I have never heard you speak in class. You have never participated in a discussion or raised your hand to offer an answer even once. A person so uninterested in cultural anthropology could not possibly get a perfect score.”

“But I LOVE cultural anthropology! Why else would I major in it? I- I even read all of your works!” you say, almost pleading.

Korekiyo shakes his head.

“Flattery won’t help, I’m afraid.”

“Wha-?! Fla-?! This is ridiculous! I don’t even know what to say.”

“You may start with an apology,” Korekiyo suggests nonchalantly.

Without thinking, you let out:

“Fuck you!”

Korekiyo’s eyes go round again and he covers his mouth with a hand theatrically, as if he’s just witnessed something scandalous.

“Is that all you have to say in your defence?”

“Why should I defend myself against some baseless accusation?”

“Why indeed. Well then, I hope you don’t mind if I speak to the professor about the matter then? Since you are so inclined to deny everything.”

He begins to stand up, but you jump from your seat even faster:

“You! Conceited buffon! You only care about your reputation and not about the _actual_ scholarly work! _You_ are a disgrace to cultural anthropology, not me! You think showing off in class makes you an expert? Ha! Your test result goes to show you’re all just talk and no real knowledge,” somewhere along those lines you start to regret saying something you don’t actually think, but hurting Korekiyo seems more important at the moment.

He sits back down, visibly angry, but trying to keep it together. 

“I hear you are genuinely displeased at the accusations. Very well. I’ll give you a chance to prove you’re not deceiving anyone.”

“I don’t need to prove anything to you!”

“Alas! In this case I’ll be forced to talk to the professor.”

“This is blackmail!”

“I simply desire to learn the truth of the matter.”

You open your mouth, then change your mind. You close your eyes and sigh deeply, trying to calm down. After taking a deep breath you speak up again:

“Fine. I can prove it. Easily. What do you want me to do?”

Korekiyo nods, the momentary burst of anger quickly put under control.

“Let’s say I will prepare another test for you and see how you do this time.”

Anger is starting to build up again, but you try to control yourself:

“Why do I need to take two tests? This is not going to prove anything. You can just conveniently say I cheated again, if you want to.”

“Oh no, this time you will have no possible means to cheat. See, I will be monitoring you the whole time.”

“Are you trying to humiliate me?!” you’re starting to lose control again.

“Maybe. Maybe not. It depends on you, really. If you have indeed cheated then one might say you have already humiliated yourself. And I have simply exposed you.”

“You haven’t exposed anything, because I didn’t cheat,” you hiss leaning closer to his face.

He doesn’t look one bit intimidated. Nor does he look angry. Just self-righteous. And just a tiny bit irritated possibly.

“We will find out soon enough. How about tomorrow?”

“This soon?!”

“Didn’t you say you can easily prove you didn’t cheat? I trust that one evening will be quite enough to prepare for a test, no?”

You clench your jaw.

“Of course. Tomorrow then.”

“How about we meet at this very spot at, say, 9am?”

“Got it,” you nod, staring at him intensely. He looks back, his gaze now appears amused rather than irritated. Your genuine anger must have awoken some interest in him.

“Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow then,” Korekiyo stands up, bows a little and heads out. You watch him go then take a moment to breathe a sigh of relief. He’s finally gone. This ignorant self-righteous snob!

Tomorrow you’ll show him.


	3. Chapter 3

The night before Koreliyo’s test you sleep even worse than you did on the night before the real test. Partially because you’re starting to doubt yourself, and partially because you feel embarrassed for losing your cool and saying something unnecessary to Korekiyo.

He is a total ass, true, but you can’t afford to lose your cool. You barely talk to people as is! And after an outburst like that your chances of making friends seem even lower than before. If Korekiyo carelessly makes a remark about it to somebody, you’re finished. A loner for the rest of your university life.

After a nerve-wrecking night you decide to apologize before taking the test, but only for the ‘fuck you’ part.

When you come to the library on the next day Korekiyo is already waiting for you. On the desk in front of him there are several pieces of paper and a pencil. For you. Meanwhile he is sitting at the desk, arms crossed, and looking out of the window. He seems deep in thought.

“Khm,” you start coldly, unsure how to approach him.

He turns to you and stands up to greet you with a brief bow again. You feel awkward since he is acting polite even after your outburst yesterday. On the other hand Korekiyo said a lot of mean stuff himself without batting an eye. So maybe he deserved to be put in his place. But you’ve already made up your mind to apologize, so you decide to start with that.

“I- wanted to say sorry for um… for that ‘f you’ yesterday. I didn’t mean it.”

Korekiyo raises a brow.

“As I’ve mentioned before: you can’t weasel out of this. I need to see the test results first. Then I will accept your apology.”

You click your tongue, immediately regretting speaking up about yesterday. No, definitely fuck this guy.

“Give me the test,” you say through gritted teeth.

“There you go,” Korekiyo offers you his papers and a pencil. You take the test sheet, but pointedly ignore the pencil and take out your own. There’s an amused chuckle from Korekiyo.

You glance through the questions. This is nothing like your professor’s tests. The questions are way more detailed, and much, much more complicated.

“Did you write it yourself?”

“I did.”

You smirk.

“I can just as easily accuse you of lying now. Simply refuse to believe you’re the one who wrote this. And you will have no way to prove you’re telling the truth.”

“You can, indeed,” Korekiyo makes some unreadable expression behind the mask. All you can see are the corners of his eyes narrowing, as if he’s grinning. “However I do not think you will.”

The smirk disappears from your face.

“In fact, I am certain that you  _ do _ believe me. If you really have read my works, as you claim you have, you must realize how trivial a task like this is for the Ultimate Anthropologist.”

You lower your eyes, defeated. You know full well he’s right. He’s got reputation and authority, while you’re basically a nobody. There isn’t even a single person who could prove that you did in fact study for the test. Logically, it’s not that far-fetched to come to a conclusion that you’ve simply cheated. Korekiyo continues:

“Or could it be you are doubting my very status as the Ultimate Anthropologist?”

You roll your eyes at first but then shake your head. You really don’t have any doubts that he deserves his title.

“Very well. I am going to start the time. You’ll have an hour and a half to finish. Good luck.”

Immediately after you start it becomes apparent that this test is going to be much harder to take, not just because of the questions, but also because Korekiyo is sitting right in front of you, insolently monitoring your work.

“Are you going to watch me the whole time?” You make an attempt to not sound irritated, but fail.

“My, my. Am I making you uncomfortable?” The concern in his voice is clearly fake.

“Yes..? Could you stop?”

“No,” he says sharply, making you flinch. “I don’t want you to cheat. Again.”

Again? As if he knows for a fact that you’ve cheated before? Oh, now it’s on, bitch! You quickly remove all distractions from your thoughts, focusing on one and only one goal: to put Korekiyo Shinguji in his place.

The test is hard but nothing on it is unfamiliar to you. Time flies fast but you work faster. You finish a few minutes before the time is up. For the first time in an hour and a half you lift your eyes from the paper and look up at Korekiyo.

For just a split second you see some unique, unfamiliar emotion on his face. His eyes are slightly wider, as if he is bewildered but definitely in a pleasant way.

However, the second your eyes meet, his expression changes back to that indifferent gaze he’s been giving you so far. His eyelids are again half-closed, idle. As if he’s trying so hard to demonstrate how much he is  _ not _ amused with you.

“I’m done,” you say simply and handle him the test.

Korekiyo takes it and you sit back, arms crossed, watching him check the answers. It takes some time, during which you study Korekiyo meticulously, trying in turn to make him uncomfortable. A petty but nonetheless satisfying revenge.

While eyeing him, you note to yourself that — yes, indeed — his features are quite attractive and his movements — graceful. You also notice that Korekiyo’s posture is impeccable: he looks relaxed, even while deeply engrossed in his work. Your mind trails off for a second there and you scold yourself for admiring him. After all, however easy he may be on the eye, Korekiyo’s personality leaves much to be desired.

Finally, he’s done. Korekiyo looks up at you, his face a mixture of contradicting emotions. He looks disappointed — since he probably was expecting you to give up right away, not finish the whole thing — and at the same time he’s… happy?

“Congratulations,” he says. “It is a perfect score again.”

“Do you believe me now?”

“Yes, there is no room for doubt: you didn’t cheat on the test.”

“See, I-”

“However,” Korekiyo interrupts you immediately, his voice sharp and fierce, not quite matching the expression he’s making. “This does not prove you indeed possess knowledge.”

“WHAT??!!” You shout again, just like yesterday.

This time Korekiyo simply frowns and shakes his head with disappointment.

“Shouting at the library again. So disgraceful.”

“Sorry,” you whisper back.

“I simply want to offer you one last task before we part ways.”

“But I already took your test!”

“This is a practical task, not a test.”

“We didn’t do anything like that in class. We only took a test!”

“Is this the answer you are going to give when you need to perform a ritual in the field?”

“I won’t need to perform any rituals!”

“Stop spouting nonsense. What do you think cultural anthropology is all about?”

“Studying history and the original texts and-”

“Wrong!” Korekiyo doesn’t even let you finish. “Anthropology is all about field work… Investigating in person is critical. References are important, but one's own experience is far more so.”

As he says it, Korekiyo lifts his index finger up to highlight the importance of his words. In reply you just shrug.

“Well I don’t have any experience!”

“Exactly. That’s why I want to watch you perform a traditional tea ceremony.”

“A tea ceremony? Here, at school?”

“Indeed. And not just any tea ceremony, as it was conducted back in the 16th century, the way great tea master Rikyu prepared it.”

“This is ridiculous! What does this have to do with field experience?”

“Everything! You mentioned before that I don’t possess any real knowledge,” he says. Oh, so your words from yesterday got to him after all. “I want to show you how one’s knowledge has nothing to do with test scores. That in the end it all boils down to practice and experience.”

You open your mouth to refute but your conscience won’t let you. You did say a lot of unnecessary things yesterday. Most of it you regret, especially now, after Korekiyo admitted so easily he was wrong about you cheating. You sigh heavily:

“Fine. I can at least try. But you have to let me use my books! I mean… I didn’t prepare for this, so this won’t be fair otherwise. Also I don’t even have a single teacup.”

“Don’t worry, I have everything in my room. As for the books,” you hear Korekiyo smirk under the mask. “Please be my guest and use anything you like. Your books will be of little help anyway.”

“We’ll see about that…”

“Let us depart then,” Korekiyo takes his stuff and stands up, prepared to head out.

“What, right now?”

“Do you have any plans today?”

“Well, no…” You admit awkwardly.

“Then don’t waste our time playing coy.”

“I’m not-”

“Move!”

You jump up, grabbing your stuff and hurriedly walking out of the library after Korekiyo. It’s not the first time that you’ve noticed how his commands seem to always work on you. It’s irritating, but you just instinctively obey if he speaks in a forceful enough voice. And if he doesn’t he has other ways to make you do exactly what he wants. Blackmail, threats, psychological manipulations. He really is good at persuading. It’s driving you mad, but you can’t do anything about it.

You two make a detour to your room to grab the necessary books and then head straight to Korekiyo’s room. Unexpectedly he too lives in the dorms. For some reason you imagined he would have his own place, not just an ordinary dorm room.

However, Korekiyo’s room is still far from ordinary. It’s full of all sorts of stuff related to his favorite subject: piles of historical manuscripts, photographs from his field trips and even several mannequins in traditional clothing. Among the other things that catch your attention is a peculiar hook on the ceiling. You wonder about its purpose for a second, but then your attention shifts elsewhere. There are several cabinets and shelves, covered with all sorts of artifacts from different places Korekiyo probably visited in person. You can’t help but admire his collection, and envy him a little. But despite being so packed the room still looks tidy: the bed is neatly made and even the books are kept in orderly stacks. There’s a faint smell of incense in the air.

Korekiyo takes out all the necessary utensils and a few unnecessary one (apparently to confuse you, but you see through his plan immediately). With a smirk you take out your books and start searching for a detailed description of the tea ceremony in question while Korekiyo prepares the tools for you. 

“Unfortunately the conditions are far from perfect, however since my goal here is simply to test your abilities, this will do.” He nods towards a simple table with a considerable number of items placed there, all in some way related to teamaking. “But you will need to provide some commentary, since some steps will inevitably be missing. My room simply isn’t fit to serve as a teahouse.”

You nod and start by explaining the preferred arrangement of the furniture, decorations and guests before the actual ceremony starts. Korekiyo nods with approval and then gestures for you to proceed.

The two of you sit down. Korekiyo watches curiously as you start to put the utensils in their proper places, removing unnecessary items off the table. Unlike him, you pay little attention to what you look and act like while focused on something. Your posture becomes crooked, your eyes dart quickly from the table to the book in your hand and back, and you mutter to yourself, while trying to figure out how to proceed with the task.

It isn’t easy, but you take your time and move forward step by step, explaining everything in detail as you go. When you’re about to stir the tea you hear Korekiyo click his tongue.

“What?” You lift your eyes up. He looks as if you’ve just defiled a sanctuary.

“Are you planning to hold the whisk in this manner?”

“Yeah, it should be the proper way to do it.”

“Oh I highly doubt that.” Korekiyo holds his hand to his cheek, giving you a condescending look.

“Ok and how do you think it’s done?” you roll your eyes.

“It’s not a matter of what I think, it’s simply a matter of fact,” he takes the whisk out of your hands and shows you the way to hold it. “This is precisely what I’ve been talking about before: not everything can be learnt from books. Some things can only be experienced first-hand.”

Korekiyo then starts to stir the tea, but now it’s your time to interrupt:

“Wait! I thought we were doing it old school Rikyu style?”

“Khm,” Korekiyo decides to ignore your phrasing. “We are.”

“Then wait a sec! I think there’s a mistake” You say heatedly, but not because you’re happy he has slipped. It’s just your natural curiosity speaking. Somehow, this activity is proving to be unexpectedly stimulating for you. “I think you missed a step!”

“Impossible,” Korekiyo says, but in his eyes you see a faint trace of panic.

“There, see,” you point at one of the pages in the book you’ve been holding. 

“No, you’re clearly interpreting it wrong. This is just describing an extra step.”

“Wait-wait-wait, what do you mean extra?”

Korekiyo starts telling you all about it, explaining that he’s organized several historical reconstructions. You note to yourself that it is hardly fair of him to test you on something he’s basically an expert at. But still…

“No, I’m pretty sure it’s your mistake,” you insist. “See, the most recent works describe it differently.”

The two of you go through several volumes about the art of teamaking while arguing until finally a conclusion is reached.

“It appears we are both right in a way… I did not expect there to be two different approaches to the matter,” Korekiyo says, hardly conceiving his excitement. “This is a marvellous find. I will most definitely document this important discovery.”

“Right? And we made it without leaving your room,” you giggle excitedly, brimming with joy.

“It does not mean field work and one’s experience is to be underestimated, however,” Korekiyo says, pointing his index finger up in an instructive manner.

“Yeah-yeah. Well, professor: do I pass?”

“You do,” he says simply.

You nod, then realize you’re wearing a huge silly grin and immediately turn away.

“Good. Then…. I- ah- go? I’ll go,” you stand up quickly, pick up your stuff and hurry to the door.

“One more thing,” Korekiyo says and you turn your head a little, so you can only see him with your peripheral vision. “I accept your apology.”

For a second you do not know how to respond, then you simply nod and hurriedly disappear behind the door to his room. You notice it’s already late. The whole day feels like a fever dream. But strangely enough… you enjoyed it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just here to say that I don't know shit about tea ceremonies so if this was painful to read, I'm sorry! Feel free to point out anything that I can change to make it better.


End file.
